Global minimum tax holds despite Trump’s exemption Opinion Rumours of the death of Pillar 2, the OECD’s global minimum tax, appear to have been exaggerated, but the international, rules-based order may be discovering its limits, says Tim Sarson Businesses across the globe welcomed in 2026 with the news that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had published the long-awaited update to [...]
UK property tax burden is fourth heaviest in OECD Economics The UK’s property tax burden is the fourth heaviest in the OECD’s list of 38 countries and it is more than double the average across the list of advanced economies. In a report on government revenue levels across most of the world’s largest economies, the OECD said the UK’s taxes on property as a percentage [...]
OECD: Labour is pushing UK inflation to second highest in G7 Economics The UK is set to suffer the second highest level of inflation in the G7 over the next year as a result of the Labour government’s decisions to pile extra costs on businesses, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said as it also warned recent tax hikes will hit growth. In its [...]
Kemi Badenoch welcomes Javier Milei on Falkland Islands ‘competition’ November 13, 2025 Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said she found it “fascinating” that Argentinian president Javier Milei wanted to make his country so great that Falkland Islanders would want to change nationalities. In a 15-minute speech to Latin American investors and academics, Badenoch praised the anarcho-capitalist leader for his austerity programme in Argentina that has lowered inflation [...]
Property taxes send UK to ‘second-bottom’ of global rankings October 20, 2025 The UK is second-bottom of global competitiveness rankings for property taxes, fresh analysis has shown, undermining Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ambition to “back the builders, not the blockers”. The Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index placed the UK at 32nd out of 38 in a damning indictment of HMRC’s complicated rules and a higher burden preventing [...]
OECD: Taxes and tariffs to damage UK economy September 23, 2025 Higher taxes and the sting from US tariffs are set to restrain UK growth, according to forecasters at the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with inflation soaring above all other countries other than the US. The OECD’s latest update on the state of the global economy said the UK’s “tighter fiscal stance” means [...]
Economists warn Rachel Reeves could be forced to make ‘£20bn tax grab’ June 11, 2025 Top economists have warned Brits to brace for another wave of painful tax hikes in the autumn after Rachel Reeves unveiled the government’s £190bn spending splurge. After unveiling her Spending Review, which laid out extra spending on the NHS, defence, housing and nuclear energy, the Chancellor told MPs she was committed to ensuring public finances [...]
OECD: Rachel Reeves’ ‘insufficient’ fiscal headroom poses risk to UK economy June 3, 2025 The OECD has warned Rachel Reeves’ wafer thin fiscal headroom poses a significant risk to the UK economy as it cut its growth outlook for Britain in 2025 and 2026. The economic organisation urged the Treasury to “step up” efforts to bolster its “very thin” fiscal headroom, expressing concern that it could cause “significant downside [...]
UK services sector ‘driving force’ behind growth, BDO says April 7, 2025 The UK’s services sector is the “driving force” behind marginal growth gains, research by the consultancy BDO has suggested, as other sectors’ performance has become increasingly lacklustre. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to ease cost pressures on firms as her £25bn national insurance tax hikes, coming into effect this week, have weighed down on [...]
Why the Trump tariffs have left the UK scrambling… April 2, 2025 Nature abhors a vacuum, or so they, or potentially Aristotle, once said. During weeks like this, it feels more accurate to say it’s the news which is doing the abhorring. Speculation has been, understandably, rampant as to the nature, variety, and impact of the tariffs the US President Donald Trump is expected to introduce on [...]